574 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 13, 1906. 
Evading the Minnesota Deer Law. 
We have it from a reliable source that in parts 
of Minnesota it is customary for parties of men 
to obtain five or six resident hunting licenses 
each—presumably under several assumed names— 
go into the woods, kill a carload of deer, attach 
a tag on each carcass, and ship them home. By 
law each license-holder is entitled to two deer, 
but a holder of six licenses could ship twelve 
deer, two under each one, and if there were five 
or six men in the “syndicate,’' each killing the 
limit named in the several licenses held by him, 
it would be an easy matter to obtain a carload 
of deer in a place where they are abundant. 
It is not difficult to understand how easily this 
type of fraud may be carried through, but it is 
surprising that game wardens will wink at it or 
fail to investigate and bring the guilty parties 
up with a short turn. A few convictions on the 
several charges that might be brought would un¬ 
doubtedly break up the practice. 
The official who issues the licenses cannot well 
be censured for handing out licenses to strangers 
who give him assumed names, and no doubt it 
is customary for residents to apply for a number 
of licenses, giving the names of several friends, 
just as it is the custom for people living in the 
country, on going to town, to ask for their neigh¬ 
bors’ mail, as well as their own, at the post office; 
but the warden’s duty is plain enough, and ff 
he sees a number of names on deer tagged by 
a small party of men, and fails to get at the truth, 
he is not doing his duty. 
Vermont Objects to Foreign Gunners. 
Rutland, Vt., Oct. 3 —Editor Forest and 
Stream: The deer in Vermont were protected 
a great many years; that is, there was a closed 
season on them for about twenty years. Then a 
law was passed allowing a person to shoot two 
during the month of October. Later there was 
a law enacted bringing the season down to the 
last ten days of October, during which time 
bucks only could be shot. And two years ago 
the season was again shortened to the last week 
in October, during which time bucks only can 
be shot, and must have horns three inches long. 
These laws have been very well enforced, and 
the deer are quite plentiful throughout the state, 
but are found in large numbers in Rutland 
county and along the main Green Mountain 
Range. It is a fact that deer have been seen 
on the streets of Rutland, and it is a very com¬ 
mon sight to see them along the roads a mile 
or so outside the city. 
Small game, such as grouse and woodcock, 
seem to be very plentiful this fall, and the 
spring and summer are exceptionally favorable 
for rearing broods. Also I think the gray 
squirrels are found as usual, although I am not 
as interested in these as the birds. 
As a rule, I think our game laws are very 
satisfactory. Of course there is some fault 
found by farmers in the mountains on account 
of the damage done by deer, which, in most 
cases, is magnified, and it is said at the com¬ 
ing Legislature steps will be taken to extend 
the deer season. I do not think this is possible, 
however, as the people of the state, as a rule, 
enjoy the deer, and when one is seen in some 
sections of the state, its coming is talked of, and 
the neighborhood enjoys the event. Of course 
there are some deer killed during the closed 
season, but it is looked upon with disfavor in 
all communities, and the culprit is very sure to 
be caught and pay dearly for the same. 
We have a bag limit on grousef not more 
than five in one day or fifteen in a season, and 
I believe this is very well adhered to, and if 
I do not shoot better than I have recently, I 
certainly will keep within the law. 
The foreign element is the worst menace to 
game and song birds, the same as in other states, 
and our law prohibiting Sunday hunting was 
passed to overcome this evil, and this law has 
caused more or less dissatisfaction. Recently 
there was formed a club, to be known as the 
Rutland County Fish and Game League, and I 
believe it is its intention at the coming Legis¬ 
lature to get a law passed, requiring a gun 
license, only naturalized foreigners to carry 
arms, etc. I think, however, as a rule our 
fish and game laws are just and well followed by 
sportsmen and vigorously looked after by our 
wardens. 
The law allowing bucks only with horns to be 
shot is an exceptionally fine law, as it protects 
the hunter in a measure from the crazy hunter, 
who would shoot at a moving branch, mistaking 
it for a deer. As the law stands you have got 
to know what you are shooting at. 
R. W. Wheeler. 
Forestry and Land Cultivation in 
Game Reserves. 
Often have I wandered through game re¬ 
serves (I will not say whose—I might hurt the 
feelings of the owners), and I have yet to see 
an intelligently conducted one. Where the 
honey is to be gathered there are the bees, and 
it is the same with game, for where food is, there 
they love to stay. It is a very mistaken idea 
■ that the density and quiet of a forest is suffi¬ 
cient to induce game of all kinds to harbor in it. 
The white oak that grows in the shade of the 
red oak will not grow acorns; then common 
sense would tell you to cut the red oak down, 
as the red oak grows the bitter acorn (that is 
not food), while the white oak grows the sweet 
acorn that is food to almost every kind of wild 
game. Carry this principle on to its logical 
conclusion and you will have an ideal game 
reserve that game will love so much that it will 
actually be a hard matter to drive it away. But 
let us continue in this line and see where we are. 
Cut down the—Buckeyes and horsechestnuts, 
and leave the sweet chestnuts; the Virginian 
creepers, and leave the fox grapes; the birches 
and maples, and leave the beech; the basswoods, 
and leave the hickory; the cottonwoods, and 
leave the walnuts; the witchhazel, and leave the 
hazel; the whitewoods, and leave the butternuts. 
Sycamores, elms, dogwoods, willow, sassafras, 
should be all cut down and thus give more sun¬ 
light and room for the food-producing trees. 
Certain kinds of haws should be left, while 
others should be destroyed as weeds. The pawpaw 
and persimmon should be given a chance to 
see the sun. The Indian pear, the bear berries 
and all food berries should be helped, while all 
poisonous berries should be killed. Bare fields 
of weeds are much better plowed up and planted 
with sunflowers, artichokes and corn. The very 
impoverished sandy and rocky parts should be 
thickly planted with pine, hemlock, balsam, 
cedar and fir. etc., and thus produce windbreaks 
and dense safe retreats. Tamarack and larch 
serve no useful purpose and should have 23 
for a number. All dead trees should be left 
standing, as they afford a good nesting place 
for small game, but always plant a fox grape 
at the foot of the tree. Many weeds there are 
that serve no useful purpose to game and take 
up a lot of room. In the water wild celery and 
GOING OFF BY ITSELF—A CRUIKSIIANK WHIM. 
rice are as much more attractive than bullrushes. 
By the exercise of intelligent judgment a few 
hundred acres will produce more game than the 
same number of thousands, for the same piece 
of ground that will grow a milkweed would also 
grow blueberry or raspberry. Nowadays, while 
so many unemployed are walking the streets of 
the cities, it is only the act of a dog-in-the- 
manger to have thousands of acres of waste 
land where hundreds of acres, if properly at¬ 
tended to, would serve the same purpose. 
I am not hinting that it is a moral wrong to 
own large tracts of land for game purposes, for 
there are large tracts of land that will never be 
fit for any other purpose and it would be a 
moral wrong to not use it for the only purpose 
that it is fit for. 
Again, I would say that it is not the thick, 
dense, quiet woods that game of all kinds is at¬ 
tracted to, but to food-producing trees. Listen 
to the partridge, scratching under the beech 
tree. See the deer, the wild pigeon and the 
squirrels under the white oak. Not only the 
wood duck, but other wild duck will land under 
the white oak, while the red oak is good for 
nothing and is shunned by all woods life. Then 
the density of woods prevents a good crop of 
food, just like an unpruned fruit tree will bear 
scanty and poor fruit. G. H. Cossan. 
Bat my Beach, Toronio. 
No Game Laws on Military Reservations. 
A few weeks ago Chief Game Warden George 
L. Carter, of Nebraska, asked United States Dis¬ 
trict Attorney W. S. Summers, for an opinion 
on the question of shooting out of season on an 
Indian reservation in that state. Mr. Summers 
in his opinion held that in order to hunt on the 
reservation every person must obtain a permit 
from the Indian agent and hold a license to hunt 
issued by the state. In other words, no one can 
hunt out of season on a reservation, for licenses 
are good for one open season only. 
Shortly after this decision was rendered, a 
deputy warden of the state, hearing that officers 
stationed at Fort Niobrara, with their guests, 
were shooting prairie chickens in the closed sea¬ 
son on that reservation, went there and attempted 
to stop the shooting. The post commandant or¬ 
dered a squad of men to escort the deputy to 
the reservation line and advised him to go away 
and ‘mind his own business, as the state had no 
jurisdiction over government property. 
Chiej: Warden Carter, being appealed to, wrote 
to the war department at Washington, and re¬ 
ceived the reply from the acting secretary: 
“Referring to your letter of Aug. 16, in which 
you make inquiry, in effect, as to whether the 
fish and game laws of the state of Nebraska are 
operative on the military reservation at Fort Nio¬ 
brara, and whether you and your deputies are 
or are not subject to ejectment from that reser¬ 
vation as intruders if you attempt to enforce ob¬ 
servance of the state fish and game laws thereon, 
I have the honor to advise you that the judge 
advocate general of the army, after discussing 
the legal features of the case, which was referred 
to him for consideration, reports as follows: 
“ ‘I am, therefore, of the opinion that the fish 
and game laws of the state of Nebraska are not 
operative on the military reservation of Fort 
Niobrara; and. it is suggested that the chief 
game warden of the state be so advised. If, after 
such notification, the attempt is made to execute 
the game laws within the limits of the military 
reservation, the warden or other officer attempt¬ 
ing such enforcement should be ordered to desist, 
for the reasons above stated, and, if he persists 
in such attempted execution, he may be removed 
from the reservation.’ 
“These views of the judge advocate general of 
the army, as set forth above, have been concurred 
in by the acting secretary of war, and by his di¬ 
rection are hereby communicated to you for your 
in formation.” 
Mr. Carter says he will not carry the matter 
any further. The wardens will watch the reser¬ 
vation and arrest any person taking illegal game 
away, but as it borders on South Dakota on one 
side, game could be carried out there in defiance 
of the Nebraska authorities. 
